Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta used to say: “Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.”

The smile my beloved father Ġanni had was indeed a beautiful thing! It disclosed what a kind-hearted man he was.

His contagious smile communicated a simplicity which today’s world craves for. His humble origins and modest upbringing made him appreciate the gift of life deeply. What really remains of life when it tragically falls prey to invented formalisms and psychologisms? What joy would life give if based on what other people think of me rather than what I am before God?

My father’s simple yet ardent faith helped me to cling to Jesus Christ who served the people not analysed them. By his sincerity and joyful character, my father taught me to be a pastor of souls, not a pastoral-analyst lost in theories. He encouraged me to be open to the ways of the Holy Spirit rather than the distorted ways of men, even if sometimes robed in sacred vestments.

Pope Francis’ words still reverberate in my mind when I see the smiling picture of my father: “At times, we lose people because they don’t understand what we are saying, because we have forgotten the language of simplicity and import an intellectualism foreign to our people. Without the grammar of simplicity, the Church loses the very conditions that make it possible to fish for God in the deep waters of His mystery.”

I ask my father, Ġanni, to pray for me to be humble and joyful as he used to be, always open to the Holy Spirit’s inspiration. In that way he can really recognise me as his son, Fr Mario, the Franciscan Capuchin priest. Amen.